The Malaysian Aviation Commission (“MAVCOM”), lodged a police report against AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes over claims he made on a video message on 13 May, that MAVCOM instructed AirAsia to cancel all 120 additional flights the airline had scheduled fly voters before GE14.

MAVCOM said in a press release that “The Commission categorically refutes the accusation” and claims are “baseless and malicious.”.

The commission claims that “it had in fact approved all 66 additional flights which were applied for by AirAsia on 23 April 2018”

It also said “The Commission has never issued any directive to AirAsia or any other airline to reduce or cancel any flights where regulatory requirements are met.”.. and “views Tony Fernandes’ claims as serious accusations and has lodged a police report.”

“To elaborate, all extra flight applications received by the Commission are done via the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (“CAAM”). AirAsia on 13 April 2018 and 18 April 2018, requested for a total of 54 additional flights (27 return journeys with a maximum volume of 13,660 passengers) to be operated during the GE14 period, which MAVCOM approved on 17 April 2018 and 18 April 2018 respectively. At 3.20pm on 20 April 2018 (Friday), the airline requested for an additional 86 flights (43 return journeys with a maximum volume of 15,480 passengers) to be operated during the GE14 period.

However, on 23 April 2018 (Monday) at 8.17am, the Commission received a revised flight application for 66 additional flights (33 return journeys with maximum volume of 12,274 passengers) for the period of 6-13 May 2018, from AirAsia superseding its earlier applications. In its e-mail submission, AirAsia specified that its previous applications should be disregarded. The Commission took note of this revision and subsequently approved this revised request on the same day.”